Oxides are easy to fabricate, low cost, health and environmental friendly and stable in a large range of temperatures. They have a variety of magnetic, mechanic and electric properties which make them essential materials in many fields related to energy efficiency. These properties, often resulting from multiple interactions in competition, vary rapidly according to the composition and their dimensionality (crystals, thin films, massive ceramics, nanopowders, nanowires ...). They also depend on the intrinsic interfaces of materials (grain boundaries ...) or artificial interfaces (composite materials, multilayers). In addition, functionality and performance depend on the micro and / or nanostructure (porosity, exchange surface and stress response).

GREMAN has adopted a multi-scale material approach that addresses issues from the fundamental to the application. The properties targeted by the oxide materials and devices integrating them, concern three aspects of energy efficiency :

Energy harvesting by thermoelectric or piezoelectric effect.

Energy storage (micro-batteries Li or Na with nano-structured electrodes, power capacities with materials with high dielectric permittivity).

Reducing the energy consumption using materials with adjustable permittivity, permeability or emissivity.